The Sci-Fi action movie Elysium leads the box office collection beating the movie "Planes" from Disney, which made U$22.53 million on the first weekend release. The movie could be well on its way to hit the US$100 million dollar club, provided the overseas response is just as great as the domestic. So far the international release in 17 countries has earned over $10 million.

The movie is written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, who is known for his much acclaimed movie "District 9" which had a debut earning of around US$37 million. Elysium has a budget of US$115 million which was produced and financed by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Sony.

The movie will be competing with the release of "City of Bones: The Mortal Instruments". The other movies in theaters are Jennifer Aniston's "We're the Milliers" which made over US$26 million and the much anticipated "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" which made over US$14 million.

Elysium's Plot

Elysium is set in the year 2154 where the world is divided between two social classes - the privileged live on the manmade space station in luxury and good health with machines clearing even cancer cells from their bodies, the others live on a ruined earth plagued by disease and over population.

Matt Damon stars as "Max" who is told by a robot that he has only a few days to live due to a work related incident and decides to travel to the space station to get a cure and in the process help the other people suffering back on Earth. Matt is seen in a robotic enhancement which seems to be plugged into his brain.

The movie seems to have strong racial, social and political overtone, the depiction of class warfare is pretty evident with the rich and the poor living separately and the rich sending their children to a different school et al, an issue which is a talking point in the political discourse in America and elsewhere in the world.